How Long Does Google Baby the iPhone? — The blogosphere is abuzz over John Markoff's piece for the New York Times on a new version of Google's iPhone app that lets you use your voice to search. (It even uses the phone's accelerometer to let it notice that you've lifted the phone to your ear, and therefore switch to voice mode.)

The YouTube Presidency — The White House has gone YouTube. — Today, President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video — a first. The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama's transition site …

IBM must put up $3 million in Papermaster case — IBM only had to pay a $350 filing fee to sue Mark Papermaster, the 25-year IBM (IBM) veteran hired by Steve Jobs last month to run Apple's (AAPL) iPod and iPhone division. — It's going to cost them a lot more to pursue the case.

Revenge Of The Papermaster: Apple Exec Countersues IBM — Newly appointed iPhone chief claims a noncompete agreement he signed with former employer Big Blue is invalid. — Mark Papermaster, the microchip expert that a court last week ordered to stop working at Apple while it hears a breach …

Nick Denton: Pay-for-page-views was too successful — When asked what he would have done differently with Valleywag after it was announced that the site was closing, Gawker Media head-honcho Denton said he “probably wouldn't have paid out those big bonuses to [writers] at the start of the year!”

How Old Is Your Work Computer? — It used to be that every three years, workers would get brand new computers from their businesses' tech departments. But for many those days are over. — The reason: Delaying computer upgrades is one of the easiest ways for a tech department to cut its budget.

Weather Channel's iPhone app hails videocasts — Weather apps have been a fixture on the iPhone and iPod touch since Day 1, but it wasn't until this week that it gained a full-featured contribution from The Weather Channel. — San Francisco's forecast today. — (Credit: CNET)

Microsoft Opens Online Store: I'm Not Impressed — It's opening day for Microsoft's Microsoft Store. But don't expect to find any opening day bargains. I compared, and Microsoft is charging considerably more for many software titles compared to legitimate online vendors like Amazon selling identical products.

TheStreet.com To Close San Francisco Office (TSCM) — More layoffs in the world of financial journalism. Spokespeople at TheStreet.com (TSCM) confirm the financial site is closing its San Francisco office, which the company opened in the late 90s. No word from TheStreet on how many people …

Google's Consumers Are Checking Out — Google's business model is revealing its Achilles' heel. — The Internet giant's big perceived advantage over traditional media has long been its consumer-driven business model. Whereas traditional media has more of a marketer-driven approach …

Apple sued over hairline cracks in iPhone 3G casings — Apple is facing yet another lawsuit over the performance of its iPhone 3G on AT&T's network but with added allegations that the company is ignoring the occurrence of hairline cracks in the handset's enclosure.

Citrix buys venture-backed Vapps for $26.6 million — Citrix said today it bought audio-conferencing services firm Vapps for $26.6 million in cash. If Vapps continues to perform well, it will get an additional $4.4 million from Citrix. Counting options, the value of the deal is $34 million at most.